


fish out of water

by heybabybird



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Merpeople, Alternate Universe - Pirates, JayTimWeek2021, M/M, Near Drowning, Sickness, jason forgot he can't swim for a hot minute, mer!tim, no angst happy ending, pirate!Tim
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-16
Updated: 2021-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-25 04:07:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30083226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heybabybird/pseuds/heybabybird
Summary: "Tim Drake. I am the captain of this ship," the man wheezed. It’s hard to believe what Drake is saying with the way he’s struggled to stand on his feet. His knuckles were even turning white from how hard he’s gripping the edge of the table to keep his balance. Drake continued,“You are not a prisoner. You are a guest.”“Not by choice,” Jason eyed the pointy object aimed at his throat. In other words he felt more threatened than welcomed.
Relationships: Tim Drake/Jason Todd
Comments: 8
Kudos: 84
Collections: JayTim Week 2021





	fish out of water

**Author's Note:**

> For Jaytim Week 2021 day one: Pirates

There has to be some sort of mistake, Jason thought as he was ushered by a group of pirates. They bound his hands with rope behind his back, took his belongings leaving nothing but the clothes on his back and brought him aboard a sizable ship docked at a secluded beach.

In a town this small, he’s just a regular nobody. What could a bunch of pirates possibly want from him? Jason doesn’t own a fraction of the value compared to some of the more successful business owners. In fact, he’s just an artist trying to make ends meet.

They were greeted by a familiar face.

“ _Stephanie_?!” Jason gawked, the look of utter betrayal written on his face. He recognized the girl as Stephanie, the new waitress at the traven whom he brought home brewed medicine to on a weekly basis for her grandmother’s cough. She told everyone she’s working to pay for her little brother’s education because their grandmother is too sick to work.

When Jason’s mother died he was brought in by a renowned doctor. Bruce had accepted the fact that none of his adopted children would follow in his footsteps but Jason in particular had the tendency to read everything he can get his hands on. It didn’t take long for Bruce to soon caught onto the habit and started leaving random medical textbooks sprawled around the manor.

He learned to brew medicine and even spot the early symptoms of illness. When he first moved to the quaint little fishing town he made a living by selling affordable concoctions and treating common colds.

The bar owner reached out to Jason about Stephanie knowing he secretly has a big heart and a soft spot for hard workers with troubled backgrounds such as her.

But.

It seems that there is no little brother, nor sickly grandmother.

Stephanie is a pirate, and he had been kidnapped from outside his own house. This is why he has trust issues.

“Oh my goodness gracious. I’ve been bamboozled.”

“Look, we’re not really bad people,” Stephanie, the first mate _apparently_ , said. Jason gave her an unimpressed look, as if she isn’t leading him down a suspiciously narrow, dimly lit hallway, “the term ‘Pirates’ have a really bad reputation, we’re just your average run-of-the-mill adventurers slash merchants. If you don’t believe me now, maybe you will in a few days.”

“You lied to me!”

“Within _reason_. Our captain is sick and it took us a long time to convince him to accept help. Can you do anything for him?”

“Lady, you know I’m not an actual doctor.”

“I know but, ugh! Just talk to him, at least.”

Jason considered jumping off board and swimming to shore but _they knew where he lives_. Also, he simply can’t swim. They came to a door at the end of the hallway which Stephanie gently knocked on it twice before opening. The inside is pitchblack.

Jason’s eyes finally adjusted in the dark to see that they’re currently in someone’s living quarters. There’s objects sprawled out all over the place; books piled as high as the ones in his own study, trinkets tossed about messily on any random surface and a heavy looking coat left hanging on a chair.

He was barely able to make out the shape of a person curled up in a large lump in the middle of the bed. A man poked his head from under the covers. Hair unruly and sunken eyes glowering from the darkness. He looked dehydrated, beat up and exhausted. Politely putting it… he looked like shit, but those sunken eyes still held a look of intensity.

“I’ll be outside this door,” Stephanie lit an oil lamp, leaving it on the bedside table next to a glass of water. Jason opened his mouth to protest, but with one swift movement the ill-looking man held Jason at sword-point.

"Tim Drake. I am the captain of this ship," the man wheezed. It’s hard to believe what Drake is saying with the way he’s struggled to stand on his feet. His knuckles were even turning white from how hard he’s gripping the edge of the table to keep his balance. Drake continued,

“You are not a prisoner. You are a guest.”

“Not by choice,” Jason eyed the pointy object aimed at his throat. In other words he felt more threatened than welcomed.

A long pause. Drake makes a croaking noise. Dry like a desert, his throat. Drake dropped his weapon then to take a sip of water, stance relaxed but his hand never left the hilt of his sword. He then sat, beckoning Jason to come closer to his bedside. And because Jason valued his life, he did.

“The medicine you brewed…”

“ _You’re_ the grandmother?”

“What.”

“Nothing. Stephanie told everyone her grandmother is ill. I figured everything it’s a lie but I supposed I should be grateful she didn’t just pour the brew down the ocean.” He spent hours on it, damn it.

“I… I see. I’m no grandmother but I _am_ sick. The brew you gave was effective and I was hoping you can make more.”

“It’s just regular ass cough syrup,” Jason pointed out, “I’m not a doctor. You should seek actual professional help.”

“But you are knowledgeable about medicine?”

“... I can make concoctions.” Jason offered. It was good enough for Drake.

“Give my men a list of what you need, they’ll buy it in town tomorrow.”

“And what about me? Do I get to go home?”

Drake said nothing, he shook his head. Stephanie chose that moment to come in and take Jason away. Jason looked back at the pirate captain with an angry scowl, he can’t believe this! Stephanie gave him a warning look(a plea, if you must), to keep his mouth shut.

After that Jason was placed in a private cabin and finally untied once they had set sail. They’ve been at sea for a couple of weeks now since the time Jason passed on along his shopping list to a chirpy looking guy. Drake— ‘just call me Tim,’— turns out to be a decent guy, but it doesn’t mean Jason will stop being mad at him anytime soon.

Jason would brew Tim a cup of medicine first thing in the morning, again in the evening, which leaves his afternoon open. With his free time Jason would read the books he swiped from Tim’s room, the pirate captain doesn’t seem to mind. Usually he would just go back to sleep after drinking his medicine. Still, Jason wondered why doesn’t he just go to a proper clinic. There were plenty in the small town they took him from.

That night, Jason found Tim by the railing of the quarterdeck, a blanket wrapped loosely around his body. Jason paused to take in Tim’s ruffled appearance. Day by day, Tim looked a little worse for wear, his skin even began to start flaking and peeling off. Could it be he is suffering from a life threatening condition? If that’s so then… Jason wondered how long would it take for Tim to stop being stubborn. Dare say, he cares about the guy. It was then Jason realized he had never seen Tim leave his room. 

There’s a sense of longing with the way Tim gazes out to sea. Peaceful would be another way to describe it, until Jason thinks he might actually die from a heart attack when Tim freaking climbed the rails and _deliberately jumped overboard_. Without thinking he dropped everything he was holding and dived in after him.

Immediately he realizes that might have been a mistake, because Jason got reminded once again that he can’t actually swim. If that wasn’t concerning enough, it’s as if their mere presence triggered the wrath of the ocean, angry rain clouds formed above their heads followed by huge waves crashing down on them.

Jason continued to flail around blindly, grabbing nothing but fistful after fistful of water. He tried to shout for Tim but his words were drowned by loud thunder, he struggled to stay afloat. And then—

( _Is Tim okay? Are they going to drown? Shit. It’s getting harder to breath_ — )

Someone grabbed his wrist, “What were you _thinking_?!” He wiped the water from his eyes to see Tim scowling at him.

“You jumped! Y-You—” Jason gasped, the cold waves crashing against his back sending shivers down his spine. Tim instantly has his arms around Jason, fingers digging into his biceps.

"This doesn't mean anything, okay?””

Just before Jason gets another mouthful of water, Tim kisses him. The next thing he knows they’re going underwater, deeper and deeper into the ocean, away from the angry clouds and violent waves but they weren’t safe yet as strong currents washed them away further and further away from the ship.

Jason held onto Tim for dear life until they finally made it to shore, exhausted and head spinning from being tossed around like a wet salad. They laid side by side on the sand, heaving and dry coughing, Jason felt like throwing up and Tim—

“You’re staring.”

“Sorry.”

Tim looked like a fish out of water, quite literally.

Waist-down, instead of legs, Tim has a shimmering red tail. Red scales scattered across his cheeks like freckles, going down along the side of his neck. Tim bashfully tucked a strand of wet hair behind an ear that was just a bit pointier than Jason last remembered.

 _( Pretty_ , Jason murmured, cheeks hot, completely mesmerized by the way Tim seems to be glistering under the moonlight. )

More importantly, Tim no longer looked ill.

“I was accused of being a heretic and banished from my homeland.”

“So you became a pirate?”

“That just happened,” Tim shrugged.

A quick explanation later he learned that Tim drew the shortstraw and was born with legs instead of a tail. By merfolk’s culture it was indeed unusual, and they often shunned him for it. He thought his problem would be solved if he would just grow a damn tail so he sought the help of a sea witch and well, the witch he consulted happened to be a prankster and placed a curse on him in return.

If Tim so much as to set foot(or fin) into the ocean, it will rage and reject him resulting in horrendous natural disasters. Tim has no choice but to pursue life on land. Still, he misses home terribly.

His ‘sickness’ was simply a case of dehydration. Because life is a joke and his human form isn’t very sturdy if he stays out of the water due to the fact that he has _gills._ So he locked himself in his room until his body was on the verge of breaking until finally, he couldn’t take it anymore. Tim planned to come back on board before anyone got hurt or noticed he went missing.

“Does the others know?”

“Maybe? I’m not sure. I think they know I’m not human but they don’t actually know what I am.” Tim flicked some seaweed at Jason’s trousers. Jason tossed a handful of sand back at Tim.

“So how do you suggest we get back on board?”

“Well,” Tim gazed out onto the horizon, the ship was nowhere in sight. “It would take them a while to find us.”

“So we’re stuck here.”

“I can swim us back.” Tim piped up. 

“And face the wrath of the ocean again?” Jason weighed his options, the little island didn’t seem to hold a lot of resources, much less any place for proper shelter. This weekhad been exceptionally hot. If they stick around, he’s not sure how long Tim will last. Sighing, Jason picked up a pebble and said, “Ok, fine. Let’s go before you dry out in the sun again.”

“Ready to face the wrath of the ocean?” Tim grinned, showing off rows of sharp teeth. He extended a webbed hand to Jason. The tip of his tail is flickering, like he’s itching for a swim. Jason took Tim’s hand, albeit hesitantly.

He can’t really say no to that face.

“As ready as I’ll ever be.”

**Author's Note:**

> hello thank you so much for reading!! comments are appreciated!!  
> now i will ramble about this AU. i'm so happy pirates made it to the prompts, i have this AU living in my head rent free for so long. i really wanted a merpirate, i think it's a really cool concept, i hope i managed to portrait it as that though
> 
> notes:  
> \- tim can switch between legs and tail at will  
> \- there’s a human in his family tree he really did just drew the short straw  
> \- tim kissed jason to share air  
> \- tim’s crew cares about him a lot, they wouldn't leave him alone until he accepts any sort of help  
> \- he refused to see a proper doctor because there’s no point. nothing is wrong with him, he only needed a dive into the ocean and jason’s brew is just some nice tea to him  
> \- he took the dive but at what cost(got a kiss, squeezed some nice arms)  
> \- assuming there's a sequel; the curse gets broken and tim goes swimming happily everyday. he doesn't go back to his homeland but he is content with life(jason stayed)
> 
> anyway this is longer what i usually writes and i hope you enjoyed it(i 100% came up with the title on spot hahaha) if you made it this far, thank you so much!!


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